Denizens of Domino: The Bakura's
by DormRoomDrabbles
Summary: The Bakura brothers have been through the wringer, but it looks like life is going to finally give them a break. Akeifa graduated from the police academy, Yami finally stopped getting arrested, and Ryou might just make it through high school without any more mysterious falls down the stairs. Angsty/Family one-shots told from Ishizu's POV. Ripshipping. Modern AU. T for language.
1. Dawn on Domino

_Oh wow, it's been a hot second. The name DormRoomDrabbles still fits since I'm still going to college, it's just for grad school this time. I was reading one of my old (and only) stories and realized my descriptive writing skills had actually worsened in the past couple of years. This is a little project to get me writing again and create content that I like to read._

_This one will be a collection of mostly family/angsty one-shots centered around all three Bakura's in a modern AU. They're a little older now (probably since I'm a little older now) and Ishizu was thrown in more because I needed a female lead and less because I like Ishizu. I just don't like OCs and self-inserts more. This first chapter is a little, light-hearted introduction. Anywho, enjoy!_

The sound of my 0500 alarm cut through the crisp morning air and I rolled over in my puff comforter to silence my phone. It was another warm spring morning in Domino City, the heat being somewhat uncomfortable and only going to get worse as summer loomed. I forced myself up in bed before I let myself fall back asleep and end up late to work at the local hospital. I'd passed the certification exam for nursing two months ago and have been working in the emergency room ever since. Everyday was still a brand new experience and I never had a clue what was going to come through the ambulance bay.

I shuffled over and tried to wake my partner up, his 6'4" frame meaning his legs sometimes hung over the edge of the bed. His shaggy white hair blended in with the pillow but was in start contrast to the deep brown tan of his skin.

"Akeifa," I prodded, trying to wake the sleeping giant.

"…hmf?" came the muffled reply. He certainly wasn't an early riser and every morning was a struggle to get him out of bed.

He had a job to get to too. Just as I got out of nursing school, Akeifa had finished up the police academy and had started patrols around Domino. His shift started right around when mine did. Akeifa and I had been seeing each other since high school almost five years ago, now. We moved in together right at the start of my college career and with him came his two younger brothers- Ryou and Yami.

Ryou was the youngest Bakura brother and a junior at Domino high. He had impeccable grades and might have some undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder if you ask me. He was a quiet and sweet kid with a very bright future ahead of him. Yami had recently finished up his GED since he had been kicked out of most of the public schools in the area. Though he seems to have grown out of it, Yami had a teenaged authority problem that resulted in multiple curfew violations and a very secure liquor cabinet. He'd straightened up in the past half year or so, though.

I turned back to Akeifa who was stretching himself out like a cat under the sheets.

"Babe, it's time to get up," I chided.

He nodded, "I'm working on it. I'll be in the shower by the time you're out."

I gave him a quick kiss before sliding out of bed and heading towards the bathroom. I started the shower and brushed through my long black hair while I waited for the water to warm up. I stared at myself in the mirror for a quick minute, noticing how my dark eyes made my pupil indistinct from the iris. My skin was dark like Akeifa's and tanning slowly as the season turned. My hair was also getting too long to be manageable and I thought about cutting a few inches off when I next got the chance.

I noticed Akeifa's figure enter in the mirror and come up behind me. He wrapped strong arms around my waist and leaned his head atop mine, his eyes still glazed with sleep.

"Good morning, love," I welcomed.

"Good morning," he yawned, his mouth opening wide above me.

"Are you biting me?" I asked in wonder as I felt his teeth make contact with the top of my head. "That's weird, not hot."

"Ih dunho," came the incoherent response from above.

He eventually released my scalp and I got undressed for the shower. The warm water felt good as I washed out my hair and face while Akeifa brushed his teeth and ironed out his uniform. By the time I was out it was time for him to get in. We had gotten a pretty good system going in the past couple months.

"Can you wake the boys up?" Akeifa asked before slipping behind the shower door.

"Yup, I'll get them going," I shouted back.

Changing quickly out of the towel and into my scrubs for the day I stuck a toothbrush in my mouth to kill two birds with one stone. As I exited the bedroom into our combination kitchen/dining/living room I caught one of the boys passed out on the couch. Judging by the length of the hair and the lanky frame I determined it to be Yami, the middle child. I went to shake him awake and very quickly had a pillow thrown in my general direction. Luckily, sleepy Yami's coordination is a little off and the projectile missed me by quite a few feet.

"Go away, I'm not getting up," came the flat response from the couch.

I shrugged and proceeded to the other bedroom in the flat. Yami was always in a mood, it never bugged me. He'd eventually get up or Ryou would wake him up. Yami was much closer to Ryou than Akeifa, but it made sense. Akeifa was half brothers with Yami and Ryou, a baby from their father's first marriage to a woman he met on a dig in Egypt. Yami and Ryou's mother had died early in their childhood in a car accident that also took Ryou's twin sister.

"Ryou," I called out as I knocked on the bedroom door. A small figure came to the door with long, wet, white hair clinging to his school uniform.

"Good morning, Ishizu," he said with a soft smile and motioned me into the room.

It was immaculately clean, which was unsurprising to me. Ryou was a perfectionist in many ways and the state of his bedroom was one of them. Unfortunately, he shared it with Yami who had a tendency to throw objects wherever it benefited him. He was also probably the most responsible in the house and was already dressed for school.

"Can you do my hair again?" he asked with doe-eyes. I hadn't yet figured out how to say "no" to him when he put on that face.

"I'll strike you a deal," I started. "If you can get Yami up off the couch, then I'll blow-dry your hair for you."

He beamed and started for the living room.

"Oh, Yami!"

I chuckled to myself and headed towards the kitchenette. I opened the freezer and popped some frozen waffles in the toaster and set up the plates. We weren't too particularly fancy with meals around here, none of us really having been brought up with maternal attention. My own mother died while giving birth to my youngest brother, Marik, who lives just two floors down from us. My father became cold and abusive after the fact so I quickly moved out of the house once I had the means. The Bakura brothers' father was less abusive than he was neglectful, a man who was just never in the picture.

"Hey, put your dick away!" I heard Yami shout from across the room and immediately turned away from the scene.

"It's not like you haven't seen it before!" said a voice that was unmistakably Akeifa's. "I'm the only one in the house who can get away with this since everyone has seen me naked."

Ryou covered his face. "I don't want to hear about your sex life before the sun has come up. Please, put some pants on."

"Fine, you're all a bunch of prudes," Akeifa joked.

_Yup, they're definitely brothers_, I thought to myself.

_There, was that so bad? I'll get better as we go along. Totally up to peer review and constructive criticism. Thank you all!_

_-DRD_


	2. Dead on Arrival

_Alright, it's time for the angst. This is pretty heavily based on my own personal experiences but I've changed just about all the details for HIPPA reasons. Any similarities to any persons are purely coincidental. _

_TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDE AND SELF HARM- IT GETS PRETTY REAL TOWARDS THE END_

I was humming silently to myself as I ran through the count in our medical cabinet, restocking for the next shift.

_Coban, 10cc flushes, 22G IV needles, green top blood tubes_. I wrote everything down so I could grab it from the back room to bring up to the floor. Before I finished my count I heard the phone ring with the familiar double tone pattern. That meant it was a patch call coming in from an ambulance.

I sauntered over and picked it up as I was the closest to the nurses' station.

"Domino ED, do you need a doctor or a nurse?" I asked in a practiced tone.

"Doctor for a code"

I put down the phone immediately and called out to the nurses' station "inbound code blue!"

Immediately everyone around me started moving. I hurried to get the doctor from his back room to take the code call from the patch line. The other nurses around me started prepping the crash room, setting up the bed height and turning on the defibrillator. I grabbed the doc and went back to our station to call the code over the intercom. Before calling it, I listened to the doctor take report to get the ETA of the ambulance.

"…17-year-old female…hung with car cables…apneic and pulseless…cyanotic... who found her?... PD 4101, ok… ETA 9 minutes, see you then" and the doctor hung up the phone.

_Is Akeifa on shift still? 4101 is his unit number_, I thought to myself, horrified. It was so close to shift change that it might not be him but at the same time it still might be. I shook my head and got my game face on for what was about to come through the door. I picked up the phone and dialed 1000 for the intercom.

"Inbound code blue, ED room 2. Inbound cod blue, ED room 2. Inbound code blue, ED room 2." I heard my own voice play back to me from above as I said it. That would call in the rest of the code team from lab, cardio, and respiratory.

Myself, the two other nurses from the shift, two techs, and the doctor donned our gloves and just waited, looking towards the bay doors. It was eerily still, everything seeming too serene for what was about to happen. We were suspended in time for a brief moment, before the chaos erupted. I saw the familiar red, white, and gold colors of the ambulance pull up in the circular windows that gave us sight into the outside world. A nurse hit the automatic open switch and once there was enough space between the slowly opening bay doors a pram was pushed quickly through.

I looked at the patient to start my assessment as the team wheeled her in. This medic team was good and knew exactly what they were doing and where they were going.

"I've given 2mg of epi, each in 1mg doses with 300 of amio in between," one of the medics started. "We were on scene for less than a minute and it was about 15 minutes over here, but we don't have a good idea of how long she was hanging. 4101 can give you a better scene report, we just grabbed her and got out. Didn't get a history, 4101 should have talked to the family for that and he'll be here soon. Any questions for me?"

I grabbed our intubation supplies and got ready to assist the doctor on getting a more effective air way.

"No, that was a great report. We'll take it from here. If you could stay to help with cycles of compressions that would be great, though I know your arms are probably pretty tired already," responded our charge nurse, Kisara.

One of the techs hooked the patient up to the monitor as we slid the girl from the pram to the gurney bed. She was young, about Ryou's age. Maybe even went to Domino High with him. Her clothes had been cut off and I could see numerous self harm scars up and down each thigh. Her skin was mottled from the waist down, a sign her body wasn't getting enough oxygen. Around her neck were obvious marks of strangulation with little red dots around her eyes marking the sites of burst blood vessels. I could tell that the prognosis was grim.

"Excellent compressions, Alister, that's quality CPR," Kisara said to one of the techs. We could see the compressions result in spikes on our monitor that almost resembled a pulse.

_Man, that really is good CPR_, I thought to myself.

I assisted on the intubation and we had a solid airway in now. We were doing everything by the book and it was running smoothly but I still didn't think we were going to get anywhere. We weren't getting any electrical activity from the heart at all, so we couldn't even try and shock it back. I looked up somewhat hopelessly and noticed Akeifa standing in the entry way.

_Damnit, it was his unit_.

Beside him sat his partner, a veteran of the force named Atem. They had been mortal enemies in high school but had become fast friends as Atem helped Akeifa through the police academy. They were both born in Egypt and had bonded over the nuances of spending their early life in another country. Akeifa had a notepad in hand, no doubt containing a scene report and patient history from the family. I had pieced together from the reports and the patient status that this was a young woman who had hung herself with a set of car cables. This looked like it was going to be a successful suicide.

"4101, what's the report?" Kisara asked from the crash cart, surveying the code procedures.

"17-year-old female found hanging in the garage by her father on his way to work. When I arrived on scene she was hanging by a set of jumper cables. I cut her down and my partner started CPR until EMS arrived. Mother reports no pertinent medical history other than a diagnosis of depression and anxiety about 8 months ago. She's on Wellbutrin for the depression and Junel FE as a daily contraceptive. Parents deny alcohol or drug use," Akeifa said very flatly. Though his eyes conveyed that he was very invested in this patient. They looked at the gurney like they were pleading for something and I noticed his fingers on his left hand were loosely crossed in front of him, like he was hoping for a lucky number at a casino.

_He's really hoping that she makes it… I wouldn't hold my breath_, I thought coldly to myself. I had been naïve like Akeifa once and preferred to just disassociate from my patients now. This was also not Atem's first rodeo, either, and he wasn't seeming too shaken up by this.

"How long had she been hanging?" Kisara asked. The answer would change how many resources we put into this code. There was a point where you were just desecrating the body.

"No clue. Parents last saw her at dinner about two hours prior to calling 911," Atem piped up.

"What's her blood pH?" Kisara asked the lab tech who had just come back into the room.

_Did she already take blood and spin it? I really haven't been observant for this code._

"6.8," the phlebotomist responded.

"Hmm, that's just about incompatible with life," Kisara mused. "Doc do you have any electrical activity at all?"

The doctor shook his head, and I knew it was over. I stopped providing breaths through the bag attached to the patient's airway. Kisara looked up at the board where she recorded every intervention.

"It's almost been 45 minutes, team. I think it's time to call it quits." Kisara said firmly. The doctor nodded and looked up at the clock.

"Time of death: 1848. Ishizu would you prepare the body for the patient's family then bring them in. Nurses and techs, no laughter or loud voices from the nurses' station for the next few hours. Let's give the family some respect," the doctor ordered.

I turned towards our linen cart to grab a sheet to cover the girl with. When I came back to the room, I found Akeifa looking solemnly at the deceased. I decided not to interrupt his personal mourning and let him come to me when he was ready. We also kept our work relationship very professional as EMS and PD worked closely together.

I worked around Akeifa as I dressed the naked body in a hospital gown to preserve her dignity, even in death. I kept the airway in, for legal reasons, but cleaned around the rest of her face where sputum had accumulated. Her eyes were already closed, so that saved me a step. I laid out the flat sheet and draped it over her, Akeifa wordlessly stepping in to help center it on her tiny frame. I set up a few chairs by the gurney and dropped the bed rail down, letting a hand lay out for the family to hold if they felt inclined to do so.

*beep*

Akeifa and I both looked up with a jolt, startled from our somber silence. Up on the monitor showed a single QRS complex, the peak and valley part of an EKG.

"That's a heartbeat!" Akeifa exclaimed, his eyes suddenly lighting up.

"No, it's not," Atem sighed as I shook my head.

_Damnit, I should have unhooked her from the monitor first._

"It's pulseless electrical activity," Atem continued. "It's not strong enough to make the muscle actually beat, it's the last machinations of a dying heart. She's long gone. Her body was cold on scene, she'd been hanging there too long for anyone to do anything."

I watched as Akeifa's face fell and I quickly pulled the leads off the patient's chest as to not let a repeat scene happen with the family. Atem walked up from his seat near the nurses' station and put a hand on Akeifa's shoulder.

"I'll talk to the family out in the waiting room and let them know what happened. Let me take care of the paperwork and the squad car, you should go home with Ishizu tonight," he said, empathetically. "The first one is always the worst. Don't worry, bud. We all went through it."

Atem gave his partner one last pat on the shoulder before heading out the main door to the rest of the hospital. I heard loud sobs come from the hall when Atem cracked open the door. It didn't sound like too many people, maybe three or four. I had begun to associate noises and numbers of people since starting my tenure in the emergency department.

"She's all ready," I said to no one in particular. "I'm going to bring in the family now."

Akeifa just nodded numbly.

I exited to the waiting room and found the family crying with Atem, who had knelt before (who I presumed was) the mother and was holding her hands as she wept. I identified two parents, a younger brother, and sister about my age. The young boy was being corralled by his older sister and was obviously too young to understand the gravity of what was happening.

"Here, you can come see Ami now," Atem said softly. The mother nodded and got up off her seat with help from Atem. I noted how empathetic Atem was with the family and how he used the patient's name in addressing the parents. I filed that away for my own professional development when I was in his shoes one day.

We filed down through the ER doors and I lead them into the crash room to be with the body and say their final goodbyes. At the sight of her daughter, the mother sobbed loudly and fell to her knees, clutching the hand I had left out. The father stood there above her in horror and the whole family began the mourning process.

"I wish we'd found her sooner," the eldest sister said to Akeifa. No doubt he'd built a rapport with the family after taking report on scene.

"No, there was nothing you could have done," he said simply and softly. She began to cover her face and cry, leaning into Akeifa's chest. He didn't miss a beat and rubbed her shoulder numbly.

I know it was wrong to feel it, but I couldn't help a twinge of jealously rise out of my chest. I had to look away before I entertained the thought too much. Of course other women were into him, he was funny and kind and sweet and not hard to look at-

_Ishizu, stop._ I had to get ahold of myself. There was no way someone would think about getting in my boyfriend's pants over the death of a loved one.

I turned to the nurse taking over for me who looked over at the scene with knowing eyes. We exchanged a quick shift report and I turned over the three patients I still had on the floor over to her. They weren't complex cases. An elderly gentleman with pneumonia who would likely be admitted, a middle-aged woman with abdominal pain that we were still waiting for test results on, and a kid who'd taken a hit to the head after a spill on a skateboard. Once that was all done I turned back over to the crash room and saw the doctor begin to make his way over to the scene to give his report to the family. The young woman who had been leaning on Akeifa broke away and turned to the doctor to hear his words. I walked quickly by and tilted my head to motion for Akeifa to get out of there and follow me.

"Hey, we headed out?" He asked, a little more life in his voice now than when I'd talked to him earlier.

"Yeah, you'll be caught in there for the next hour if you don't get out now. It was really nice of you to stay with the family though," I mentioned. He just nodded his head while I grabbed my bag and stethoscope before we headed out the door.

The ride home was quiet, which was ok. I held Akeifa's hand as he gazed out the window. I'd been in his shoes and could respect how he chose to process the night's events. Death and dying were commonplace events for myself, but this was new to my partner. While I'm sure he'll come to be as numb to the human condition as I am, it was good to see that this job hadn't made him jaded yet.

As I pulled into the driveway, the presence of Yami's white Nissan sedan meaning that both of the boys were home already. That was good, Akeifa could use their presence tonight. It also meant that they had probably picked up something for dinner because all four of us really sucked at cooking anything.

"I need a shower, I'll be right back," Akeifa mumbled as we walked through the entryway.

Ryou perked up immediately from the bar at the kitchen and looked quizzically at me. He immediately knew something was up. Yami would never admit it, but he also looked up from his book on the couch to acknowledge that something was amiss. Akeifa was usually much more boisterous when he came back from a shift and almost always went immediately for the pantry.

"Rough shift," I shrugged, to give them an answer.

I followed Akeifa to the bedroom where I stripped out of my scrubs and into a pair of sweatpants. My scrubs had lord knows what bodily substances on them and I certainly did not want them infecting my house. Once I tossed them in the hamper I heard the shower turn off and figured Akeifa would be out soon.

When I came back to the kitchen, I found two plates of recently microwaved chicken wings set out on the counter. I smiled to myself, absolutely knowing that it was Ryou's doing. I motioned my thank you to him at the bar and he smiled cheerfully back at me. He really was a sweet kid and I wondered why everyone at school pestered him so much. I grabbed a beer from the fridge and went to sit in the recliner in the living room to eat, since Yami took up most of the couch. I had just started to dig into my dinner when Akeifa came back into the room in a loose t-shirt and gym shorts. He walked a few steps, saw me, and stopped.

"What's wrong, love?" I questioned, licking my fingers to clear them of the honey BBQ sauce.

"What's wrong?" He snapped. "An entire family's life just changed forever you're just carrying on like nothing happened. A girl died today. A 17-year-old girl took her own life and everyone's acting so normal about it! Did she not matter enough for us to mourn her? What if that were one of us?" He paused. "...What do I do? Do I just keep going?... I don't know." His tone changed dramatically, and his voice became softer and pleading.

Ryou's eyes were wide with shock. His eldest brother rarely lashed out, much less to me. Yami too seemed somewhat surprised at the sudden anger. It didn't bug me though, I knew he was just processing and going though some stages of grief. I drank until I threw up my first code, so I couldn't fault his much healthier approach of talking it out. Yami pulled his feet in, opening up more space on the couch. A very subtle invitation for his brother to sit down. Akeifa sighed and flopped on the couch, wood squeaking in protest to the sudden addition. Ryou also brought his barstool over to the seating area to be part of the conversation.

Akeifa put his head in his hands, elbows resting on the tips of his knees. I wiped my face quickly with a napkin and traversed the three feet over to the couch to sit with him. He didn't shy away, which was a good indicator that I was still wanted, so I put my arm around him and took another swig of my beer.

"I'm sorry, Ishizu. I didn't mean that," he said, defeated.

"No," I responded, "you're fine. It's a lot to deal with. Your first one was young too, and that's always hard. Don't worry about it, this is normal." I drew circles in his back and leaned close into his hunched frame.

"What happened?" inquired Yami in a more genuine tone than I think I'd ever heard him use.

"I got called to a possible 10-56, a suicide. Of course, EMS was dispatched too but our squad cars are much faster than the ambulance and don't tip over if we take a turn at more than 5 miles per hour. So, Atem and I get on scene first and of course everything has gone to shit. Mom is in hysterics; dad is trying to flag us down. I park the car, get into the garage and there she was, still in her school uniform, just hanging. In the madness, no one had even bothered to cut her down. So that's what I did. I cut her down, Atem caught her and started resuscitation efforts. That's… that's when I noticed the scratches…" he paused, his throat hitching.

I squeezed his shoulder in support, not quite understanding what he meant by 'the scratches.' Ryou was perched on the edge of his seat, listening intently to his brother's story. Yami too had put down his book on his chest and seemed to be an engaged listener.

"There were scratches," Akeifa choked. " Scratches on the hood of the car, r-right below where she hung herself." He sniffed, and rubbed at his eyes, head still down in his hands. "It's probably where she jumped from, but there were sneaker marks from her shoes…" He stopped, his shoulders starting to shake.

"Honey," I whispered, my heart breaking for him. I could only stroke his hair in solace as be began to cry audibly. Ryou and Yami were dead silent, not moving a muscle and barely breathing. The air was thick. I wondered if they had ever seen their oldest brother cry. It was a rare occasion for myself as well, even having been intimate for over half a decade.

"She changed her mind," Akeifa said after about a minute. "She struggled and tried to get down. She kicked the hood of that car so many times trying to catch her balance. I could see it, I could see every skid her shoes made." He took a shaky breath and continued.

"She didn't want to die… she didn't want to die…"

I pulled Akeifa towards me and kissed his shoulder as he cried. It was gut-wrenching listening to him. The muscles in his back quivered and I could see him clench his jaw even through the hair that hung down around his face. I caught Ryou wiping at his eyes and realized that I also felt the urge to cry, although I quickly suppressed it.

"Shhhh, it's ok," I tried as I began to run my fingers through his hair. "You're ok."

_What can I say, I'm a sucker for a sobbing protagonist and that sweet, sweet hurt/comfort moment. This is pretty hastily written so I'll probably come back around and edit it soon. Let me know if y'all catch any mistakes or something isn't clear. Thanks for the read! _

_-DRD_


	3. Dinner and a Drink

**Heyyyyy... it's been a while. I just kind of update this whenever I feel the need to write something angsty. This isn't exactly the hurt/comfort that I wanted to write, but I felt like the last chapter just cut so short, I had to expand upon it. This is kinda like filler because I feel like I need it and I like fluff for some reason. The next chapter should have more of what I want in it, I just need this little transition chapter first. I hope you like the read! (Definitely did a once over edit job too, so disregard any flaws... don't tell my boss).**

"Shhhh, it's ok," I tried as I began to run my fingers through his hair. "You're ok."

As much as it pained me to watch this, it would be something he had to grow through. I hoped Akeifa would keep his reverence towards death as he progressed through his orientation to the streets, but I knew it was unlikely. This one was hard; she was young and obviously didn't want to go.

"She died alone. She died in the worst way. Afraid, hurt, and completely alone," Akeifa finished. Sighing as he wiped at the corners of his eyes. He sniffed and pulled his hair back to expose red, swollen eyes and puffy cheeks. "I'm sorry guys. I'm ok, just a bit overwhelmed."

"You don't seem very ok," Ryou ventured.

"No, no" Akeifa softly differed. "I'm just upset that… that someone could feel so horrible that they can't see any other path forward. On top of that, that no one would recognize it. I just can't fathom what would bring a person to feel that way."

"I can." Interjected a very tired looking Yami. He pulled himself up on the couch to sit cross-legged, facing his eldest brother's slumped form. He took a breath and started.

"I remember being so mad at you once, last year. It must have been something stupid because now I can't even remember what it was for. I was also drunk so that probably didn't help."

"I remember getting rid of everything we had, how the hell were you drunk?" Akeifa half-joked, trying to lighten the very tense atmosphere in the room.

"Oh man, you don't wanna know." Yami teased back, his eyes sparkling with that twinge of mischief they always harbored. "Anyhow, back to the point- I was really pissed and really stupid. I remember sitting alone with my thoughts that night and just letting them get darker and darker. I wallowed in the idea that you two were better off without me," Yami gestured to his brothers, "and seriously felt like it would be best to just leave. It was so dark and miserable and once I added the mix of hormones and alcohol I seriously debated offing myself and leaving my body somewhere for you specifically to find. I was so angry at one point that making you feel like trash was more important to me than living." Yami stared directly at Akeifa, making sure his point went across.

"Jeez Yami," Akeifa shuddered, "You're really doing a good job of making me feel better."

The eldest flatly got up and sauntered over to the small entryway of the apartment, picking up a wicker tissue box holder. He blew some of the dust off the top and pulled a few tissues from the top opening before handing the box to a quietly sobbing Ryou. The youngest was also the most sensitive, so this wasn't too alarming for anyone in the room, though the stress he was going through wasn't lost on anyone. We were all pretty fried at this point and Akeifa was probably starving.

He sat back down next to me and offered one of his tissues, but I shook my head slightly and took another sip of the neglected beer next to me. I had managed to stay pretty dry-eyed throughout this and would probably stay this way throughout the night. They say ED nurses are heartless, and while I do care, I just don't cry that easily.

"I'm not trying to make you feel better," Yami piped back up, "just helping inform your narrative. You asked the question and so I thought I would provide a possible answer. Though I am sorry if I made you upset, Ryou."

Yami leaned over to Ryou's barstool and ruffled his hair as a sort of comfort.

"Upset?" Ryou accused as he recoiled from the middle brother's touch. "I'm absolutely miffed!"

Akeifa seemed somewhat surprised at this as he turned his head back to that side of the conversation. He slowly reached over onto my plate of (now cold) wings and had started picking on some for himself. I raised an unseen eyebrow in amusement and was glad that Akeifa was at least feeling better enough to eat. The prize for the most upset in the room now went to Ryou who was going off on his full-brother.

"You would seriously throw away everything we've worked for and leave us like that? You think you put me through the wringer now, can you even imagine if you went through with it? Oh my god, I can't even begin." Ryou stopped to calm himself. After another breath, he started up again. "I would never forgive you if you were ever that selfish. I would bring you back just to kill you myself. Ugh, now I'm fuming," huffed a still crying Ryou. He wiped at his eyes with one of the many tissues surrounding him, wadded it up, and promptly threw it at the object of his angst.

"Hey kiddo," Yami soothed, walking over to Ryou's seat. He came up behind him and wrapped his arms around the younger's smaller frame and put his head on top of Ryou's. "What are you so mad for? I didn't go through with it. I was drunk and hormonal and everything was really overwhelming and I just let my thoughts travel and eventually get a little too embedded. I didn't go through with it. Thinking is not a crime."

"Hey Yami," asked Akeifa, "why didn't you do it? I mean, I remember those days. You didn't exactly do things half-assed."

It was odd that after the night's events Akeifa would ask something like that, but I relented and admitted that I was now curious too.

"Y'all made it pretty impossible to do anything that night," Yami mused, heading over to the kitchen again. "I don't know if you had some sort of tracker on me or if Ryou just knows where I go when I'm moody, but do you remember the night you picked me up at the park at about 2 AM? Yeah, that was probably my worst night."

I also remembered that night, but from a slightly different perspective. A teenaged Yami had a tendency to break curfew and do stupid things when he was out- like get unimaginably hammered. On these nights when he wasn't home we'd try to convince him to come back around midnight when he wasn't always in his best senses. I would stay at home, just in case he wandered back in, and Akeifa would drive Ryou around until they found him in one of the spots he'd end up in. I remember getting calls at the apartment from the Department of Corrections whenever the cops would pick him up. I think interacting with that side of the community may be what inspired Akeifa to go into the blue side of work.

"Hey, that's mine," interjected Akeifa, rousing me from my thoughts.

"I'm only taking one," Yami retorted, taking the promised, singular chicken wing from it's foil tin.

"Fine," huffed the eldest. "Ugh, I hate crying. It makes my head hurt," finished Akeifa, who leaned back against the edge of the sofa and rubbed his temples.

"Excuse me, your head hurts?" sassed Ryou, still leaking a few tears but with a much more stable tone of voice.

"Here, I'll finish dinner up," I offered as I got up to reheat the rest of my wings and add Akeifa's to the plate.

"I'm gonna pass out now," Yami offered the group. "That was a lot of group contribution for me and I would like those social points to go on record."

Yami wandered off to his and Ryou's shared room but left the door open just a crack to remind us that he was still listening. Yami wasn't usually one to contribute to many family conversations, and we constantly gave him crap for it. I figured he was right and we'd all back off the teasing for a few days, as his contributions didn't exactly make us all feel stellar.

I came up behind Ryou while the microwave was working it's magic and put a hand on his back in a little sign of solstice.

"Can I get you anything, love?" I offered the junior.

Ryou just shook his head softly and showed a meek smile. His face was tear-streaked, though it didn't swell quite the way Akeifa's did. He was almost a pretty crier, if it weren't for the fact that his nose kept running so horribly. I just wanted to give him a hug and tell him it would be ok, though we both knew it would be a lie and I wasn't so sure how close we were yet.

I still filled up a cup of water for him and brought it over with the rest of dinner and a beer for Akeifa. We weren't real big drinkers but ever since Yami got over his binge drinking phase we were enjoying having it back in the house. I dropped the water by Ryou and nodded his thanks to me, quickly taking a small sip from the glass. I got to Akeifa and handed him the freshly heated food, setting the beer bottle on the coffee table in front of him.

"Blessings from the heavens above, you are the perfect woman," Akeifa praised. I rolled my eyes at him and sat back down.

"This house has absolutely no respect for my grade point average, I swear," muttered Ryou. "I have like two exams tomorrow and I got like half of the studying I needed to done and I'm not sure at this point if I should stay up late and cram or if it's worth it to actually go to bed and conserve my energy… caffeine? No that's not a good idea… how low can I score and still have an A in the class…tonight of all nights to do this, seriously?..."

Akeifa and I looked on, bemused by Ryou's fidgeting and obsessive organizing as he put the barstool back in place and cleaned half the kitchen whilst talking to himself about how he didn't have enough time to be doing this. He eventually wandered off into his room and we briefly heard Ryou scold Yami for the umpteenth time that night.

"Is he ok?" I turned to ask Akeifa, in actual and genuine concern.

"You know, I've been asking myself that for years."

**Yeah that's what I got for now. Not as hurt/comfort as I usually like to write but that will come in the next chapter. Which hopefully get uploaded before next year, but I make no promises...**

**DRD out!**


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